we were operating in the area controlled by them they were more experienced and much stronger. our actions were always constrained by their plans and programs. there were a lot of thing we could not do freely. whenever there was a clash of interest or a clash of opinions we had to follow theirs. however there were some very nice and understanding ethnic insurgent officers. those people listened to us. it was the same with Thailand. we could organize training sessions quite freely but we could not organize protests against visiting Burmese officers. they would arrest us it also depended on who was in power. the democrat party was usually sympathetic to us and nicer to us. the current goverment [of prime minister Thaksin Shinawarta] is not very friendly to us. what we could do in thailand was always shaped by who was in power (interview july 12 2002)